Venâncio Mbande was a Mozambican musician who had a long career in this area, becoming the best-known Mozambican Timbila musician (a traditional Mozambican instrument). Venâncio Mbande learned to play Timbila at the age of six, influenced by his family. And after emigrating to South Africa to work, he started his own orchestra and began composing original music, thus beginning the process that would later make him one of the greatest masters of Chope music. The elaborate orchestral style of playing complex musical arrangements in Timbila set Venâncio Mbande apart from other xylophonic musical traditions in other parts of Africa.